[ LETTERS ]

Taiwan always talks about democracy, which is great because everyone loves democracy.

However, Taiwanese often discriminate against foreigners — for being black, being dark or not being beautiful.

Yet they forget that many Taiwanese also have a dark complexion. There is far too much discrimination in Taiwan and it must stop.

Would it be OK for foreigners to say Chinese people have small eyes and flat noses? If Taiwan really wants to act like a true democracy, it should eliminate this type of prejudice and discrimination.

Prem Thakurdas Sawlani

Mumbai, India

Futility of pessimism

Charles Hong went to great lengths to tally disappointing (sometimes incomprehensible) facts about Taiwan (Letters, Aug. 4, page 8). While I agree with some of Mr Hong’s points, some strike me as doubtful.

Most importantly, I wonder what the author hopes to achieve with such negativity? The outcome of this year’s presidential election was surprising and disheartening and a sense of defeatism has been prevalent since then and many feeling “helpless” and “hopeless.”

Yet, the worrying political situation in Taiwan does not mean we are in a position to give up, or spread pessimism. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to continue fighting for the freedom, democracy and sovereignty of Taiwan.

Shortly after delivering his Mountain Top speech, Martin Luther King Jr, an advocate and practitioner of non-violence, was assassinated. How ironic. Imagine the despair civil rights activists must have felt back then. They must have wondered, would there be light at the end of the tunnel? Yes, there was and the US eventually elected its first African-American president about 40 years later.

Instead of lamenting the situation saying “only in Taiwan,” why not think what we can do for our country and take action?

Tiffany Hsiao

Rockville, Maryland

Olympian economics

I laughed and cried when I heard that Chinese and South Korean badminton teams intentionally tanked their performances to gain an advantage in the “round-robin” match format that some fool suggested at an Olympic committee meeting.

I was delighted when those “athletes” got expelled for trying to “game” the system rather than play a competitive match. Shame on them. Sucks to be a disgraced Olympian going back to China considering the fleet of lethal injection minivans they have over there, I guess.

This round-robin format is a perfect example of the market-destroying “rule-based” cheating that is swamping the global economy. By providing a “competitive” format whereby losers eventually face statistically weaker opponents in their quest for gold, the committee destroyed the athletes’ incentive to compete at the highest level.

I laughed when the crowd booed both teams. These “competitors” served into the net, rather than over it. It was both the Chinese men’s and women’s teams, and if that is not a massive wake-up call to China’s global investors, I do not know what is. Even China’s Olympic sports teams will resort to underhanded tactics, it seems.

This is the “we’re spending a lot of money, what can go wrong?” mentality of the uber-rich. With widespread rumors of soccer match-fixing in China, how will bosses get paying fans into the seats if there are no truly competitive matches?